Rangers Spring break: Pitchers skeptical of new protective caps

Tanner Scheppers took a liner just above his left eye his sophomore year at Fresno State. He doesn’t remember much of it, but was conscious when he left the field and headed to the hospital.

Scheppers called it a scary moment and hopes something like that never happens again. But don’t plan on him taking the extra step of wearing the newly approved protective pitching caps.

Prototypes of the new caps will be shown to Rangers pitchers in the coming days at spring training. They will be custom built for each pitcher interested and are designed to provide protection for a ball coming as fast as 83 mph.

“I’m not going to wear them,” Scheppers said. “How many pitchers have died because of getting hit? None. You don’t want it to happen, but it’s part of the game.”

Most of the Rangers pitchers echoed Scheppers’ thoughts. Veteran reliever Jason Frasor doesn’t feel the caps are something he’ll be interested in using, and neither does Colby Lewis.